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| WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting 'mythical' healthcare system |
| 2010-12-19 |
| Authorities feared footage of gleaming hospital in Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated film would provoke a popular backlash Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana. The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system. But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room". Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them." Sicko investigated healthcare in the US by comparing the for-profit, non-universal US system with the non-profit universal health care systems of other countries, including Cuba, France and the UK. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 To date they've been mostly reflecting things we've known here for years, or which have been glaringly obvious That's because the good stuff is in the back, available only to a select and deep-pocketed clientele. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-12-19 12:07 |
| #4 "the leaked diplomatic cables will be a bigger blow to the left than anyone else. It lays bare the facts about many countries, leaders, and political agendas that quite frankly are counter to the liberal mindset" Naaaahhh, CS - they don't care. In fact, most of them are jealous. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-12-19 11:56 |
| #3 Since none of the wikileaks stuff _of this nature_ is ever going to hit the drive-by media that created the "no wmd in Iraq" lie, among others, _as a societal whole_ we're stuck with the negative outcomes of a wikileaks type operation and none of the positive ones. (Leaving aside the filtering that's probably happening at the source). |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-12-19 09:38 |
| #2 To date they've been mostly reflecting things we've known here for years, or which have been glaringly obvious. The classified comments haven't been reflecting the public comments, but we've been expecting that. |
| Posted by: Fred 2010-12-19 09:34 |
| #1 I think as a whole the leaked diplomatic cables will be a bigger blow to the left than anyone else. It lays bare the facts about many countries, leaders, and political agendas that quite frankly are counter to the liberal mindset. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-12-19 07:05 |